Conference System and Associated Signalling Method

1. A communication system comprising: at least two mobile terminals each with a signal-transmitting device comprising: a sensor that detects a movement of the signal-transmitting device and outputs a corresponding motion signal for a nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture; a motion signal processing device that associates the motion signal with a motion signal pattern and generates an output signal with corresponding information about a type of nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture detected from the motion signal pattern; a transmitting device for supplying the output signal to at least one transmission channel, said at least one transmission channel associated with each of the mobile terminals; a local area network connected to said at least one transmission channel; a telephone, for a moderator connected to the local area network; and a screen for conference control connected to the local area network.

2. The communication system of claim 1 , where the output signal comprises information that provides an indication as to an originator of the motion signal.

3. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the motion signal processing device detects a human nonverbal gesture of drawing attention for interhuman communication as a result of a movement of the signal-transmitting device contained in one of the at least two mobile terminals.

4. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the motion signal of a gesture associates the gesture with a motion signal pattern that is known to the signal-transmitting device or stored in the signal-transmitting device.

5. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor and the motion signal processing device are designed to suppress unintentional nonverbal interpersonal communication gestures so that said gestures do not cause at least one of a motion signal and an output signal when the motion of the signal-transmitting device is determined to have a motion amplitude or a signal intensity that is below a pre-selected threshold.

6. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the signal-transmitting device processes and stores motion signal patterns from an external data source that is not part of the signal-transmitting device.

7. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission channel is formed by a WLAN net with a WLAN access point or a UMTS data net.

8. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the signal-transmitting device in each of the at least two mobile terminals contains an output device that outputs the information of the output signal in a way selected from the group consisting of visually on a screen, acoustically, and as haptic stimuli, the output device outputting the information of the output signal such that the output information corresponds with the nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture.

9. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the screen that is connected to the local area network is designed as a touch user interface, which is housed in a personal computer, connected to the computer, or in the telephone.

10. The communication system of claim 1 , further comprising: a SIP server; a conference server; and a conference application; wherein the SIP server, the conference server, and the conference control application, are connected to the local area network.

11. A signaling method for a communication system, comprising: detecting a motion of a signal-transmitting device and outputting a motion signal; associating the motion signal with a nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture; generating an output signal in response to an association between the motion signal and the gesture, said output signal comprising information that corresponds to the nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture; transmitting the output signal from a first device connected to the signal-transmitting device to a second device via a transmission channel; receiving the output signal that is transferred via the transmission channel by the second device; and displaying, by the second device, a respective marker that is associated with a mobile terminal on a screen for conference control based on the output signal received from the first device.

12. The signaling method of claim 11 , wherein the first device is the mobile terminal, wherein a switching state of “mute” or “unmute” of the mobile terminal is also shown on the conference control screen in display fields and is modifiable depending on the marker, wherein this switching action is performed automatically or manually by a moderator.

13. A method for voting, comprising, detecting a motion of a signal-transmitting device and outputting a motion signal; associating the motion signal with a nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture; generating an output signal in response to an association between the motion signal and the gesture, said output signal comprising information that corresponds to the nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture; transmitting the output signal via a transmission channel; receiving the output signal that is transferred via the transmission channel and displaying a respective marker that is associated with a mobile terminal on a screen for conference control based on the received output signal; and evaluating two different motion forms of the signal-transmitting device as a “yes/no” decision.

14. A method for conducting an auction, comprising: performing a signaling method for a conference system, the signaling method comprising: detecting a motion of a signal-transmitting device and outputting a motion signal, associating the motion signal with a nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture, generating an output signal when an association is made, with said output signal containing information that corresponds to the nonverbal interpersonal communication gesture, transmitting the output signal via a transmission channel, and receiving the output signal that is transferred via the transmission channel, and displaying a respective marker that is associated with a mobile terminal on a screen for conference control; and wherein a “raising of a hand” motion of the mobile terminal by a participant is interpreted as a bid with a price increase by a certain amount, and wherein an announcement of a new bid price to participants occurs through one of an announcement by a moderator or a “text to speech” component.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising evaluating and transferring to a transmission system information based on detected gestures of participants selected from the group consisting of raising a hand, head shaking, head nodding and finger signs.

16. A communication system comprising: at least two mobile terminals, each of the mobile terminals comprising a signaling apparatus having: a sensor configured to detect motion of the signaling apparatus and output a motion signal corresponding to the detected motion of the signaling apparatus, a motion signal processing device configured to associate the motion signal for a gesture of nonverbal interhuman communication with a motion signal pattern and generate an output signal based on the association of the motion signal with the gesture, the output signal having a piece of information about a type of the gesture that corresponds to the association of the motion signal to the gesture, the signaling apparatus configured to perform at least one of (i) processing of motion signal patterns and (ii) saving of motion signal patterns from an external data source that is not a part of the signaling apparatus; a transmission apparatus communicatively connected to the signaling apparatus, the transmission apparatus being configured to supply the output signal to at least one transmission channel allocated to each of the mobile terminals; a network connected to each transmission channel, the network having a control application; a moderator device connected to the network; a display device connected to the network for conference control, the display device being configured to generate a display based on the piece of information about the type of the gesture of the output signal; and the control application configured to effect unmute or mute switching for each of the mobile terminals by a moderator during a conference call connection between the mobile terminals and the moderator device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the moderator device is a telephone device or a computer.

18. The system of claim 16 comprising a conference server device configured to mix media and distribute media streams for the conference call connection to the mobile terminals and the moderator device.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the display device is a touch screen of a computer.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the display generated by the display device is configured such that the display illustrates indicia indicating a mute status for each of the mobile terminals and request indicia to indicate a request to change the mute status has been received for communicating mute status and request data to the moderator based on the piece of information about the type of the gesture of the output signal.